Chapter 8 - Route

The icy wind enters through the windows and whips my body, which instinctively reacts to such a stimulus by sending slight shivers throughout my being.Darkness floods my eyes as I open them.

< I don't want to wake up from this little dream >.

A dream so peaceful where everything seemed to be just a nightmare, a bad dream and I was very quiet at home with my parents and my sister, I imagined that the news of the virus was real; but it was just a flu and I was spending very comfortable with them the quarantine, screams, laughter and games was what I imagined in that little moment; But when I opened my eyes according to the night time, this idea vanished only with the gloomy image in front of me, the image of the mutilated girl covered with Angela's coat lying on the table.

This is the scene that awaits me.

I take a deep breath with a lot of sadness , feeling a small pain in the tip of my nose and how my eyes began to burn ordering me not to contain what I feel inside .

I bow my head, Angela's pleasant face sleeping on my chest like a child, seems a form of consolation for this sorrow that slowly eats away at my spirit.

She exerts a strong pressure on my arm, holding it tightly between her slender hands.

I breathe hard again, close my eyes, open them and give her white cheeks light caresses to wake her up like a cat playing with a ball.

She moves her eyelids slightly and her black eyes light up like beacons in this dark room illuminated by a few stars next to the waning moon that watches us from outside.

- Get up, we have to go .

- How long have we been sleeping .... Serene, how are you? - she asked both questions with different tones of intensity, her friend's had a more powerful tone .

Angela let go of my hand and with a small caress on my cheek she moved away from me.This sensation, this is the first time I feel the soft hand of a girl caressing my face, leaving me spellbound one could say.

She is already standing and next to her friend.

<Right, how long did we fall asleep> - I check my analog watch on my wrist and with my right hand I can't help touching my face <what the fuck is wrong with me>.

My watch shows seven o'clock at night.

I walk straight to them, put my elbows on the table, crossing my arms I ask.- How is she doing?

<I really ask that, I know he's burning up with fever.... what an asshole >

- burning with fever and his arm is not getting any better, we need to get out of this place - she gets agitated - .... needs medicine Adam.

- I know that very well, get ready we are going to the medical school, there will be medicine and equipment there that can help us.

Having said that I walk away from them, I walk towards the shelves of materials, there I rummage in every drawer, I find reagents used in laboratory experiments.

The liquid reagents are bottled in amber bottles with their respective chemical formulas and the solid reagents are stored in small airtight boxes.

I rummage around some more and find some small sample bottles.

7.15 -

< I hope this is not a bad decision >

- we are leaving - I drop on Angela's shoulder a smock I had found in the other classroom of the lab .

I look out the two windows and all I find are those static silver creatures in fetal position .

Angela with her friend leaning on her left shoulder approaches me - is it safe out there - she asks seeing what I see.

I move away from the window and return with a beaker in my hand, filled with alcohol and a piece of cloth dipped in it, in my other hand I have a lighter.

( beaker , small glass container )

I light the alcohol, feel the heat pass through the crystalline container.- When I let go, they bend down - both nod.

they both nod.

I drop the lit beaker. it falls very close to that small group of creatures.

<if I held it in my hand any longer it would surely hurt me>.

As I had said, they and I including myself quickly hid under the windows.

I poked my head out to see the reaction from outside but it was almost nil , the creatures only moved very slowly until the fire was out .

- It seems that we can move at night, they did not react to that little stimulus - I said a little worried.

- That means that at night they are in a resting state, that's good news for us - added Angela hopefully.

- Quickly we have to go... you are ready, aren't you?

Angela nodded in the same way as her friend, but her friend didn't seem very cheerful.

- Come on, we have to pick up the pace.

I grabbed the axe I had been using the whole time, lab coat full of reagents, and headed for the lab entrance.

The door was jammed with some metal chairs placed there not to let anyone in, but now they were just a hindrance to our exit .

I remove them as quickly as possible leaving the axe aside, the door is free, I take the axe and with my hand on the knob I get ready to open it.

- Ready -

I opened the door and as an instant response my shoulders gave a little jump showing signs of fear .

I had a student in front of me , his head was full of wounds , his mouth was split , the tentacle in his mouth did not have the pepa tip they usually have and his horrible inanimate black eyes were dull turning leaden , his whole body was full of holes , as if he had been stabbed with stakes , removed over and over again .

- kyaa! - shouted the two girls.

I gritted my teeth , clenched the axe very tightly as I shouldered it .

- I said let's go - I shouted loudly and with the axe on his neck I ripped his head off .

I glared as I watched a colleague's head instantly solidify.

We left the lab, through corridors flooded with bodily remains with a pestilential odor that could eliminate your sense of smell if you lingered too long, each step we took answered with terrifying sounds that shook our senses .

We left the laboratory building, outside everything was very quiet and there was hardly any vision, the grass and the sidewalk were stained with various colors of which I could differentiate the silver as dark red .

I swallow saliva and start walking towards the front holding the axe , my arms are very tense and the reagents in the gown are somewhat heavy .

I walk alert so that we are not ambushed by those things , although I have evidence that the creatures did not act at night I do not trust that information .

They follow my pace although they go slower than a normal person .

< I have many doubts about those things , I just saw a student in a state of conversion but I have also seen many of those silver things , I don't know what is really going on >

I stop for a while to wait for them as they are a meter behind me , we have been walking around the university for about 10 minutes and it is still a long way to the medical school . Angela looks very tired, although if I asked her she would tell me she is fine.

Her friend doesn't look so good, it's only a matter of time before she succumbs to fever or pain.

They both stop next to me, Angela gasps discreetly, just as the mutilated girl looks like she can't take it anymore.

I put the axe on the ground, careful not to make any noise, pick up Angela's friend and put her arm around my neck.

Angela, the light-skinned girl leans a little and rests with her arms resting on her knees.

- Rest for now and stay alert, I'll take care of her, take the axe, you'll cover us from now

 on.

She picks up the axe from the ground

- but .....

- We still have a couple of faculties left, better rest for now..... I forgot, here.

I reach into the roomy pockets of the lab coat, pulling them out they have sample vials full of reagents.

I give her some of them, being very careful not to damage the vials, because if that happens they could seriously harm Angela.

One of the vials contained water, the other caustic soda and some acids, plus I gave her a small piece of metallic sodium.

- What is this? - she asked.

- It's metallic sodium, you have caustic soda and in the other jar you have some water, do you know how it works?

- Of course I do, my average in chemistry 2 was 17 - she said cheerfully, her smile produced in me a little sensation that I don't know how to describe, I inevitably smiled.

- I got 11 and I'm not saying anything .... Go ahead, you have to reach, but not too far, you are our only defense for the moment.

( in my country the grades go from 0 to 20 points )

She held the axe tightly, folded her arms, having put the materials in both pockets as she moved forward.

- Thank you very much for the help - said panting and in pain the girl he was helping.
- Yes, yes... What else do I have left?

- You know, a few moments ago, when I saw you in the lab, I thought you were going to abandon us and leave us to our fate - she continued with his voice low and her eyes turned towards the floor.

- Well, it was my first choice, but I already had an agreement with her -i pointed with his eyes to Angela.

- hahaha - she laughed with difficulty - when I saw you sleeping with her I deduced that you wouldn't abandon us and even more now - she raised his head and smiled when he saw her - it's incredible that she smiles like that next to a man.

- What do you mean I didn't do anything like that... she fell asleep on me I couldn't refuse, besides I didn't enjoy it and I bet she has a lot of friends .

- seriously - she turned her gaze towards me, her brown eyes were full of pain but at the same time of grace - the picture says the opposite ..... but ..mm .

- shut up already

- I guess you are still waiting for your reward -

- Of course I do, I don't work for the love of art but the problem is I don't know what I can ask for.

- I see - she smiled sarcastically with a bit of pain .

- What's so funny?

- Nothing, nothing.

- Tell me or I'll leave you here .

- I'd keep dragging you

- You do know how to give a good answer but tell me what's funny .

- The funny thing is that you appear to be a self-serving person and a jerk but you are more true to your words.

- Stop, don't do that, don't patronize me, I hate it - I walk looking straight ahead.

- But you don't do the same with her -she point at him.

- I don't - the tone of my voice rises a little.

- .......

Silence accompanied us for a few minutes , she did not mention a word after denying that she was condescending to Angela .

At the same time she made an effort to keep up with me although she couldn't, maybe I was being a little abrupt with her by not having a little consideration for the state she was in.

- What is your name?

- Serene

- Well Serene, when we get out of here ....

- I'll owe you a favor - she said with a smile between her lips - I know what your game is Adam, that's your name, isn't it?

A bittersweet smile appeared on my face, this was my only response as it left me speechless. We walked until we reached the environmental engineering school.

So far we had not encountered any creatures, neither those silver monstrosities, nor the students, but the image we got of this building was disgusting and horrifying.

The environmental engineering faculty is bigger than my faculty, practically twice the size, with a big square in the center, many laboratories and auditoriums, adorned with trees and gardens, along with benches next to each tree, it also had gates at the entrances and exits, taking the appearance of a very beautiful and aesthetic study house.

But it didn't look like that now, the square was full of corpses, men stretched out in the center, bound with fine silver threads, lifeless faces that had come to that state with the greatest pain imaginable.

The bodies were just skin and bone, with holes in the center of the body and large silver spheres inside those holes that had the appearance of being in the process of solidification. The skins of all the bodies were hanging, and the burst veins had marks of clotted blood, and the smell of the dead intoxicated our lungs.

- Go on, don't stop - I order

- What choice do I have, you literally carry me - replied Serene sarcastically with her hoarse voice.

< It amazes me how she can handle these things so easily ,I think she is the one who can't see these things since she almost reached the same state as them .... but I guess the jokes can help her handle it >.

- Come quickly, Angela you are with us - added Serene.

We kept walking without looking back until we reached the medical school.

But this faculty dedicated to health did not seem to be dedicated to that, now it looked like a morgue where there was no more room for the dead.

The medical school was the same size as my school, but it had no plaza, only a soccer field with grass that the students used, and the building looked like a bunker, I say this because the field was at the same height as the second floor of the building.

The white walls were stained red and the blue had turned a dark purple, the entrance was covered with the brutally murdered bodies.

Unlike the other faculties, this one had no bars, only sliding glass doors, since last year it had suffered remote delations.

They all looked unrecognizable, if it weren't for the clothes you would think they were all of the same gender, but they were not.

- We went in... But which way Adam -  asked Angela, covering her mouth.

She was walking along the court, staring in horror at all the bodies lying on the court, dodging them as if she didn't want to run into any of them.

Until she bumped into one of those silver monstrosities, which was static in a fetal position behind the soccer goal.

- Kya! - She let out a muffled scream, covering her mouth, remained static and began to tremble.

- Angela - she screamed devilishly.

The silver monstrosity moved a little but did not attack her.

Serene gritted her teeth from the helplessness of not being able to do anything but scream at her friend .

I leave Serene lying on the ground, I run to Angela who is a couple of meters away from my position, I grab her by the hand.

She turns to me, her eyes widened when she saw me, she was shaking and mumbling my name.

- Come with me - I pull her away from the thing.

< it's my fault, I could have died >

- help me we have to get inside.

I bend down to remove the bodies of the dead that won't let the door open .

It feels slimy , the clotted blood looks like jelly and the smell is tolerable but it gives me a little pain in my nose and my stomach churns wanting to let out a gastric eruption .

- hmm! - I want to vomit but I can't do it, I haven't eaten anything and I haven't drunk any water and if I do I might collapse.

Angela helps me , she too removes the bodies she can but her white hands are stained dark red , silver and some light shades of greenish yellow .

- hmmggggg!

- don't throw up Angela , don't do it - she nodded .

We walked down the stairs to the main entrance of the college as my analog clock read 7:30.As we walked into the corridors of this faculty, the scarce night light was disappearing while the corridors were getting darker and darker until we reached an absolute darkness in which we couldn't see anything.

In the left pocket of my jeans, I remember that I still have my cell phone but I thought that with so many incidents it would be damaged by now.

I check the phone, there is no phone signal as the bars have an x on them and the battery is at 15%.

I press the flashlight option, the powerful but at the same time thin light hits the wall illuminating the path.

- This way - I signal for him to turn right...

As we advance through the corridors we notice something peculiar in this faculty, and that is that the walls are stained with solidified silver liquid, this does not seem a big deal but what surprises me is the way the wall is stained, it seems as if they had been caused by a fight too, it is noteworthy that the wooden doors have holes as if they had been pierced with a single blow. We continue to move forward.

- Angela complains of pain as she lifts her leg.

- What happened? - she asks Serene.

I point the flashlight at her feet and we are all stunned.

Angela had just kicked the limb of one of the monstrous creatures, the leg was solidified in its entirety and appeared to have been ripped off by an external force.

I tilted the light forward, this time we were completely stunned, feet, arms, some head, all these limbs were scattered in the hallway as the decoration of the place.

We were all a bit intrigued by this, as we had only seen this on students so far, not mutilated creatures.

The echo produced by the footsteps made us all more tense , the three of us sought to hide as quickly as possible .

The three of us hid behind a vending machine and turned off the light on my cell phone. Angela was preparing with the axe to give an accurate cut in any case and I was preparing the reagents to explode it on what was approaching.

< It's one of those creatures for sure, I knew they didn't rest at night >.

The echoes were getting closer and closer, increasing my heartbeat wishing it wasn't one of those things.

The light peeked around the corner of the hallway, it was coming closer along with these words.

- Who are you ?- the question felt very energetic, then it peeked out from behind the vending machine.

A young man about my age, fair complexion, kind eyes, diamond-shaped face and brown locks sticking out of his cap, wearing a lab coat.

- And who are you? - I answer suspiciously.